SHERINGHAM DIARY No 92 - Reversing Into The Future.

And so, the 1940's weekend has thankfully passed. Trade in the shop was good. It needed to be as the week before it was uniformly atrocious. I had the impression the town was exhibiting less enthusiasm to put a huge amount of energy into it. There was a lot more of the bare minimum being done. Likewise the dressing up, which there was also less of. If it has any value its as an exercise in nostalgia for qualities of community and togetherness we find hard to keep a hold on these days. It maybe sentimental, it maybe harmless dressing up, but its also a means of escape from reality. And in the time when a war is raging in Europe, its appropriateness has to be open to question.

All of which made the trend for folk turning up as Nazi's a further slap in the face, for those of us who just about tolerate 1940's weekend. As a gay man it has a particularly nasty flavour to it. Last year it was just a couple. This year it was a small platoon of people dressed in SS uniforms. North Norfolk Railway makes it clear in their publicity that folk dressed in 'axis' gear will not be allowed on trains or platforms. But for the more general event it's not made clear at all, nor is it policed. So this sort of thing I guess could happen. Hopefully, by next year they will have sorted out how best to communicate that this is not welcome, and how best to respond when it does. 

There was a lot of retrospective consternation on social media about it, but not a lot done about it on the ground during the event. One misguided event organiser thought it was totally OK. A fight broke out, apparently, and the Nazi's were eventually escorted away. Their defense was they were a re-enactment group, and they were not meant to be Germans, but Waffen SS, which is a distinction that is not in the least credible. They also say they raise money for charity, without saying for what. Though if true, it sounds like a bit of ethical whitewash to me. Fascists- make believe or not - can you trust a word they say?

I have been accustomed in life to having a cold once in a blue moon, every five - ten years of so. But since the 'cough perpetual' at the beginning of the year, which went on for months and really knocked my robustness for six, I've had two further boughts of cold. One of which I've been trying to see off recently. The previous one was short in duration, but quite intense, as my body marshaled all the energy available to see it off. The effect of leaving me feeling drained whilst that is going on, is now with me once more. I'm having to recognise that perhaps I'm a little more run down than I think. 

My new diet is progressing well. I have to be careful about 'mission creep' where my desire to keep,for instance, cake eating under control starts to look for exceptions to the new rules. Ditto portion controls and on cheese etc. But weight and cholesterol are not beaten in a day. It's ongoing and requires vigilance and constant renewal of commitments.

I've never liked Russell Brand, its not just the madness in the eyes, I've never found him funny. I always got the impression whilst watching him, that through giving him attention, I was merely feeding and servicing the needs of his massive ego. And, so it seems, also his libido. I can't, however, also escape the feeling that he has placed himself online as a somewhere he can be relatively untouchable. Protected by a cult of followers who've bought into his anti-establishment shtick. Attacks from traditional media merely reconfirming their preexisting conspiratorial views. Its the Trump effect, that makes them impervious to court rulings or disdain. What a perverted topsy-turvy world we inhabit. I really have no idea how, as a society, we get ourselves out of this circular feedback loop of barmy ideas. Or is this just how things end?

As we approach political party conference season, There's been a stepping up of the rhetoric which indicates we are entering the run up to a general election. The recent climbing down from previously rock hard commitments to net zero, is only the first of probably many policy adjustments to create the impression the Tories are on your side. When they really only think about their political survival. They are going to play very very dirty. The net zero changes included a few things they were not going to do, that no one has said were going to happen. The invention of non existent policy ideas just to scare the voters and con them into voting for them, because they're now not going to do what they were never going to do in the first place. 

Small Sticks Cafe

We've just had our first Sunday and Monday off in over two months. What a relief! Went nowhere near the shop, and were not in a rush to do anything. A visit to Siffkey Stores, and a meander around Blakeney, on one day. A walk, a cuppa and cake in Mundesley and lunch in Small Sticks Cafe in Eccles On Sea, the next. Soon we intend to plan our holiday. Probably the second week in October, as half term is right at the very end of the month. Both of us can't wait to get away, because my god we need it.